It is generally known that vehicle doors for motor vehicles are typically constructed of an outer skin and an interior lining, which together form the basic structure of the vehicle door. Based on this basic structure of the vehicle door, the door is finished by placing various components in the interior space formed by the exterior skin and the interior lining. These components include, for example, in addition to loudspeakers specifically the window panes with associated operating and guide elements, as well as the vehicle locks and the door handles, which are preferably located in form for an exterior handle in a handle recess disposed in the exterior skin of the vehicle door and operatively connected in the form of a closing cylinder with the vehicle lock.
Many different approaches are known for mounting the exterior handle and hence also the closing cylinder on the exterior skin of the vehicle door, as well as for positioning the exterior handle and the closing cylinder in the handle recess of the exterior skin of the vehicle door. These approaches are essentially always based on a basic component in the form of a support bracket, which is directly or indirectly attached to the inside of the outer skin of the vehicle door and thereby also to the handle recess. For example, a configuration for the exterior handle on the vehicle door is known wherein a support bracket is pre-mounted inside the outer skin of the vehicle door. A pull rod, which is separate from the exterior handle and pretensioned by a compression spring, operates on an actuating lever for the lock. A mounting plate assembly for the cylinder lock is also installed. With this configuration, the exterior handle and the closing cylinder can be installed at a later assembly stage, after the vehicle door is already closed, from the outside by way of a clip-on connection. One support end of the exterior handle hereby engages with the journal of the support bracket, whereas a coupling system is created between the pull rod and the exterior handle which enables the pull rod to move transversely relative to the exterior handle, so that the pull rod can be tightly guided in a guide opening.
In another conventional arrangement, which is also based on a support bracket disposed on the inside of the exterior skin of the vehicle door, the support bracket includes, in addition to a torsion spring, corresponding openings disposed on its longitudinal ends, with an additional opening arranged following a corresponding one of the openings. While the openings disposed on the longitudinal ends of the support bracket are provided for passage of the connecting elements of the exterior handle, the additional opening arranged following one of the two openings is provided for mounting the closing cylinder. Depending on the respective configuration or operation of the exterior handle, the support bracket may have on the side facing the opening provided for securing the closing cylinder a support fork which allows the exterior handle to pivot.
Regardless of the configuration of the support bracket attached to the inside of the exterior skin of the vehicle door and thereby also to the handle recess, and regardless of the way in which the closing cylinder is operatively connected to the exterior handle of the vehicle door, it has been observed that the lock-handle connections provided by the support bracket do not always provide the required safety in a crash, so that even a relatively small impact force can impair the operability of the lock-handle connections. Accordingly, even these small crash impact forces can endanger the vehicle occupants by rendering the lock-handle connections inoperable.